This document discusses poverty dynamics in urban Bangladesh based on research from 2012-2016. It finds that average incomes are 45% lower in secondary cities compared to Dhaka and quality of life indicators like housing quality and access to infrastructure are significantly worse in secondary cities and towns compared to Dhaka. It also argues that some urban poverty statistics may be outdated and not fully capture issues like rental insecurity, shared sanitation use, and intermittent infrastructure access. Addressing urban poverty faces challenges including an elitist policy bias, a need for innovative pro-poor solutions, political economy issues around land use, and financing challenges. The dual challenge is changing perspectives to prioritize the entire urban spectrum rather than just largest cities, and implementing both

1. Dhaka, 24 September, 2016
Poverty Dynamics in the
Urban Spectrum
Twin challenges of perspectives
and statistics
Hossain Zillur Rahman
Power and Participation Research Centre (PPRC)

2. 10 faces
Pictures by Imrul Islam, student (political science
and psychology major) at Vassar College, New York, USA
(pictures commissioned by PPRC)

3. Rubel (17), factory worker, Puran Dhaka
Factory worker, speech impaired, works to support
Widowed mother, did not go to school

4. School drop-out Jewel, Construction Worker
Construction workers in Uttara at night. After a long day of work, showering
and eating dinner. Jewel, came to Dhaka from Narsingdi to live and work
with his uncle (who also works at the same construction site). He dropped
out of school because he needed to earn and support his family.

5. Abdur Rob, worker in small mattress factory
Abdur Rob’s work place is located in an under construction building. He migrated to
Dhaka alone and later brought his family. He has two daughters, both of whom go
to school. His wife works as a household maid. His greatest struggle now is to make
sure he keeps earning enough to put his children through school.

6. Amol (43), rickshaw-puller, Uttara, Dhaka
Amol comes from Mymensingh. He came to the capital to work till Eid
and go back home with his earnings. During conversation, he confided
he was thinking about what gifts to take back for his children.

7. Badshah, fruit-seller, Sadarghat, Dhaka
Fruit sellers in Sadarghat, come on launches with their wares and return
once they’ve sold enough. Badsha finds it hard to make ends meet,
especially with the rise in price of amenities.

8. Rahul (middle) is Abdul Mollah’s only son. Although he sometimes helps
Mollah out, he has been told by his father to concentrate on his studies. Rahul
dreams of becoming a businessman like his father, but one who has a chain of
grocery stores in all parts of Dhaka.

9. Abdul Mollah (60), petty businessman
Abdul Mollah oversees the offloading of produce. In the background,
the Buriganga. Mollah has a son who is in college, and someone he
hopes will be able to get a “real” job in the future

10. Rahul, student, Abdul Mollah’s son
Rahul sometimes helps his father in his business but has been told by his
father to concentrate on his studies. Rahul dreams of becoming a
businessman, but one who has a chain of grocery stores in all parts of Dhaka.

11. Nilima (50) finds a moment of relaxation

12. Meena (11), student, Shakari Bazar, Dhaka
Meena lives in a little one bedroom house with her family. Her dad works at
a neighboring carom board factory. Her biggest desire at the time of photo
was an air conditioner for her house. She wants to be a nurse.

13. PPRC-BBS research on the
Urban Spectrum, 2012-2016
• 4 tier urban spectrum
- Dhaka City, 2012 & 2016
- Chittagong City, 2016
- 8 City Corporations, 2016
- 14 Pourashvas, 2016
• Research supported by The World Bank
• Data on Dhaka 2012, Chittagong 2016 and
Pourashavas 2016 presented in this conference

14. 5 Questions
• Is urbanization an undifferentiated reality?
- Metropolitan to Mofussil
- Diversity of slums
• How adequate is the income measure to capture the multi-
dimensionality of urban poverty?
• Do urban poverty statistics face a problem of being ‘outdated’ vis-à-
vis changing urban realities?
• Do the urban poor face a reality of ‘economic opportunity but social
disadvantages’?
• Is urban poverty about the poor or about anti-poor urbanization?

15. Metropolitan-Mofussil divide:
income realities
Income class
(Monthly income BDT)
Metropolis:
Dhaka City, 2012
Incipient Metropolis:
Chittagong City, 2016
Secondary Cities:
14 Pourashavas, 2016
% of hh Average
income BDT
% of
income
share
% of hh Average
income BDT
% of
income
share
% of hh Average
income BDT
% of
income
share
Below 10,000 11.3 7,444 2.2 7.8 8.027 2.3 28.0 7,717 10.3
10,000-25,000 47.1 15,200 18.8 56.6 16,029 33.8 49.3 16,383 38.7
25,000-50,000 25.8 32,072 21.7 24.6 32,544 29.8 17.4 35,425 29.5
50,000-100,000 10.5 63,197 17.4 9.1 63,206 21.6 4.1 67,441 13.2
100,000 & above 5.4 284,088 39.9 1.9 174,398 12.5 1.2 149,810 8.3
All 100.0 38,127 100.0 100.0 26,817 100.0 100.0 20,897 100.0

16. Metropolitan-Mofussil divide:
income details
• Average pourashava income (2016) 45% lower than average Dhaka income
(2012)
• Average Chittagong income (2016) 30% lower than average Dhaka income
(2012)
• % of poor in Dhaka (2012) on the global criterion of $1.25 per capita per day
was 27%
• The top income class (above 1 lac per month) in Dhaka (2012) constitutes only
5.4% of households but enjoy 39.9% of total Dhaka income
• Average monthly income for the lowest income class across the urban spectrum
is below BDT 8,000.
• The lower middle class (monthly income between 10,000 and 25,000)
constitutes the majority of the population in all urban centres: 47% in Dhaka,
56% in Chittagong and 49% in pourashavas

17. Metropolitan-Mofussil divide:
Quality of life
Indicator Dhaka, 2012 Chittagong, 2016 Pourashava, 2016
%
Owner-occupied housing 20.5 33.2 69.7
Vulnerable housing: Kutcha
dwellings + Jhupri
5.0 26.0 39.5
Non-sanitary latrine 2.6 1.8 3.1
Shared latrine-use n/a 38.9 23.8
Unhygienic garbage disposal 9.6 40.5 82.2
Interrupted electricity supply 92.2 96.8 91.3
Access to piped water 96.5 59.2 20.5

18. 4 examples of ‘outdated’ urban statistics
• Housing
- structure improvement versus new poverty-relevant tenure
forms eg. sublet
- from land tenure insecurity to rental insecurity
• Sanitation
- from latrine types to compulsions of shared-use
• Access to infrastructure
- quality of neighbourhood (inner) roads vis-à-vis arterial roads
• Access to electricity
- access to a connection versus intensity of interrupted supply

19. Addressing urban poverty:
Challenges in lesser focus
• Elitist bias in setting urban priorities
- Low priority to public transportation, urban social protection, urban health,
low-cost housing
• Viable pro-poor urban solutions: a challenge of
innovation
- WASH, low-cost housing, skill education
• Political economy of urban land-use
- Policy propensity for slum eviction as easy option
- Inefficient land-use out of focus
- Potential of land pooling approach not yet on agenda
• The financing challenge

20. Addressing urban poverty:
A dual challenge
• The challenge of perspective
- Reversing ‘anti-poor’ urbanization rather than narrow focus
on urban poor
- Prioritizing the urban spectrum rather than primate city
- Importance of both structural and non-structural solutions
• Challenges of action
- ‘Big’ and ‘small’ solutions
- Prioritizing innovations